The US Navy Has Frickin’ Laser Beams!

This summer, the US Navy will deploy its latest weapon system: a laser beam!

While only to be used for “asymmetric” threats, it’s still pretty cool that the military believes such a weapon is deployment-ready! The article indicates that the weapon’s not so good in bad weather, but for small potential threats in a calm environment it’s good to go.

In two years, an EM rail gun may begin to replace the conventional big-guns on other ships. The issue with the rail gun is that it requires tons of electricity — probably not a problem on a nuclear carrier or sub.

It’s unusual these days to see the US occasionally act like an old Cold War superpower — spending billions on weapons we’ll likely never have to use against a near-peer power, but still making and deploying them anyway! If we’re going to have wasteful government spending, at least make frickin’ laser beams with it!